Absolutely. This is the way it should be done. The guy was drunk and suicidal, firing a .45 all over the place. A police marksman shot him in the ass, they disarmed him and took him away. Now, what's so hard about that? Here's the story in the Coloradoan.

Officer Carrie Wills fired one shot from a patrol rifle at James Scheu Jr., 49, who had fired numerous .45-caliber handgun rounds into the air and properties near his residence in the 3000 block of Longhorn Court.

Scheu survived the shooting to his buttocks and was taken to Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland. He was discharged Jan. 30. No officers or other civilians were injured.

I wonder if this was Officer Carrie Wills' doing, or if the whole Fort Collins Police Department deserves congratulations. What do you think?

Here's the gist of it. A guy on crutches with a broken hip is sentenced to jail and freaks out. The judge pulls a gun on him but that doesn't work. Next, thing ya know, a police officer shoots him twice. Here's the story.

Now I realize a good bash in the head with a crutch can hurt, but was lethal force really necessary. (Can you call it lethal force if the guy accidentally lives?)

What's your opinion? But before you start, ask yourself this. Why do I (the commenter) keep defending the police in shootings when I really have serious concerns about police brutality and government oppression of all kinds? Could it be that, as a gun owner, I want to reserve the right to misuse my own gun if the opportunity ever arises, you know, killing goblins and all that good shit? Why else wouldn't I denounce this continual, daily police violence to the high heavens?

David Letterman is a silly guy who uses silly jokes to amuse silly people. This is one the gun owners just love, being misogynists and all. I found it on the Winston Dorian's blog.

You can read it over there if you want, but you already know what we're talking about. Gun owners, some of whom are rabid racists, would never consider telling a "nigger joke," but they'll just yuck it up over these female put-downs. Something's wrong with that.

What was Reagan's chief legacy? "It was tax cuts for the rich and budget policies that tripled the Federal deficit as well as financial deregulation that paved the hellish road to our current economic situation."

Police are doing a better job targeting and arresting violent offenders. Doctors and medics are saving more shooting victims, and new and better technologies are contributing to all of the above and to our day-to-day safety.

And then he makes these points.

• Fewer than 1 percent of gun deaths in the United States involve self-defense. The majority are homicides, suicides and accidents.

• Epidemiologists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found that those without guns are four times safer than those with guns when confronted by an armed assailant.

• Gun death rates are highest in the states with the highest ratios of gun ownership.

• Fatal police shootings increased last year by 40 percent.

•Of the 23 highest-income-per-capita countries in the world, the United States has 80 percent of all gun deaths. The U.S. gun homicide rate is 20 times higher than that of the rest of the sample.

The pro-gun argument is that more guns in the hands of good people would make us all safer. The problem is we make so little effort to know of a person is "good."

When school officials are armed, the gun-rights folks tell us, they'll be able to stop a mass shooting. But as we've seen time after time, even armed and trained people can't do that unless they get very lucky. On the other hand, by arming more people, you increase the chances of the kind of unexpected violence that this story talks about.

All right, you get the idea. I could continue, but that's certainly enough examples.

What' s your opinion? Do you think the cops sometimes shoot unnecessarliy? Do you think some of these incidents are really acts of aggression on the part of the police?

I do. And I think the same, or more, applies to gun owners in general. That's why the greatly exaggerated claims of the numbers of DGUs there are every year are even more ridiculous than meets the eye. Some of them are not defensive at all.

A New Hampshire farmer who became a folk hero to gun rights activists after he was imprisoned for brandishing a handgun at a trespasser on his property won early release Wednesday.

The New Hampshire Executive Council voted unanimously to free Ward Bird, just two months into his three-year sentence.

His wife, Ginny, said he would come home to "lots of tears, lots of hugs and a big celebration."

Bird, 49, of Moultonborough, had sought a full pardon to clear his name. The council voted in his favor, but Gov. John Lynch vetoed the pardon, saying the judicial system had given Bird's case a thorough review and he would not undermine that. The council then immediately voted to commute his sentence, and Lynch let that vote stand.

"I, like the (sentencing) judge, have concerns the punishment does not fit the crime," Lynch said.

Bird's felony conviction for criminal threatening with a firearm remains on his record. He can no longer possess guns. Attorney General Michael Delaney said a full pardon would have restored Bird's right to own and carry guns.

I think the governor should have said to him like Michael said to Carlo, "Only don't tell me that you're innocent, because it insults my intelligence and it makes me very angry."

The administration wisely - and in this political climate, bravely - appears to have had a change of heart. "As part of the president's commitment to strengthening core law enforcement and homeland security functions - even as we make tough choices across the government - the 2012 budget includes robust support for Southwest border security, including an increase above current funding levels for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives," according to Margaret L. Reilly, a spokeswoman at the Office of Management and Budget. In plain English: The administration is promising to increase the ATF's budget beyond the $1.13 billion currently included in the 2011 continuing resolution. OMB declined to provide the exact dollar amount.

Could this be the beginning? Could this be the start of the long-overdue change in direction many of us have been waiting for?

Refusing to further gut the ATF is an important, but ultimately small, gesture. Assault weapons and related accessories, including the kind of high-capacity magazine used in the shootings just outside Tucson, should be banned; the gun show loophole for background checks should be closed. We hope the president's course correction on the ATF is but the first of many steps to combat the rash of gun violence that has for too long afflicted this country and its neighbor to the south.

Sheehy is the son of Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy. He is a senior biotechnology student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.Joel Sheehy was handling a handgun he owns when the gun accidentally discharged, according to the statement. Joel then asked his roommate to call 911.

I admit to Atrius and the Anonymous commenter that my idea of removing rights for an accident is extreme. In fact on Robert Farago's blog, I was swayed by his suggestion that the punishment should fit the crime, so to speak, and if no one is injured, that be taken into consideration concerning the jail time and probation. But in my opinion, anyone who "forgets" there's a round in the chamber, even once, has proven to be dangerous and irresponsible and therefore should relinquish his guns and gun rights. Same with dropping a gun, no second chances.

Please notice how you guys say there's no such thing as an "accident," but only "negligence" when it suits your argument. Now, all of a sudden we're talking about "accidents" that can happen to anybody.

I don't buy it. "I say one strike you're out." And I say with a policy like that the world would be a much safer place.

Any thoughts? Is that too severe? Please tell me why, but try to do it without a car comparison, I dare ya.

Police in a Sacramento suburb are investigating an officer's shooting of a handcuffed suspect while he was detained in the back seat of a squad car.

Elk Grove Police officer Christopher Trim says it's not clear why the officer shot John Hesselbein early Sunday. Hesselbein was grazed in the face by the rifle shot. Trim tells The Sacramento Bee the shooting did not appear to be accidental.

I'm loathe to admit that any shooting is justified, but when you warn the guy to stop stabbing his victim and he ignores you, and the neighbors have already hit him on the head with a baseball bat to no avail, and then you shoot him, it sounds justified.

The only thing that makes me wonder about this story is the number of stab wounds. Is it even possible to stab someone that many times? How long would that take?

Other than that, I have to say, it sounds legit. Even the fact that Officer Joel Hansen fired once and when that didn't work fired again, in other words he didn't empty his gun on the guy, lends credibility to the claim that it was justified.

This article examines the weird suggestion to significantly cut the ATF Budget at a time when many people think they're bneginning to do a good job along the Mexican border. It makes you wonder what's really going on.

Some agency officials held out hope that President Obama, whose campaign promised tougher gun laws, would support their mission and budget, and strengthen their legal tools.

What's your opinion? Where do you think this initiative comes from? Will Obama save the day as far as the ATF goes?

I wonder where all those guns come from up there in Buffalo. Ohio is pretty close, isn't it?

A 22-year-old man is dead and a 19-year-old is in the hospital after gunfire on a Buffalo street.

Police say Andre James of Buffalo was pronounced dead at the scene of the shooting shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday. Wayne Willis was wounded and admitted to Erie County Medical Center in critical condition.

The gun lobby can sense its stranglehold on America weakening. Gun rights zealots are becoming desperate and openly slandering advocates who have lost loved ones to gun violence, calling them "vultures" for trying to prevent future Loughners from arming themselves to commit mass murder. The NRA audaciously claims to be "respecting the heartache of the people of Tucson" by sending orders to Capitol Hill to block any and all attempts at meaningful reform.

They know that Tucson laid bare the porous, insane gun laws that they wrote and pushed our legislators to enact. And they know that the entire gun violence prevention movement is now working together to obtain a life-affirming victory out of this tragedy.

What's your opinion? Lately we've been hearing the idea that the gun-rights movement may have peaked out already. That's what I've been saying anyway. Josh says the "stranglehold is weakening," same thing.

Rationally there are two main reasons for the Tucson massacre. First a lack of a serious mental health policy in the US and secondly, lax gun control laws that allow people to get guns and kill people.

About the 2nd Amendment he says this:

The Second Amendment also has roots in the English Bill of Rights of 1689 and whose purpose was to protect people from disarmament from the crown. Founding father's also wanted to empower the citizenry to be able to bear arms against an undemocratic government, invasion, insurrection, and a natural right of self-defense.

The right to bear arms was also important as it allowed people to participate, when called upon, in law enforcement and to create and participate in a militia system.

Even if fire arms were necessary for self protection then, that is not the case any longer.

The Tucson massacre that wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and killed six others did not stop Arizona gun dealers from selling high-powered semiautomatics last week to buyers who said they couldn't pass background checks.

The sales were captured on undercover video by private detectives working for Mayor Bloomberg's crusade against illegal guns. The detectives went to the Crossroads of the West gun show in Phoenix on Jan.23 to expose the deadly loopholes in America's gun background check system.

It's comforting to remember that most gun owners are in agreement with the gun control folks on this one. It's still baffling that so many are opposed. I don't think I've heard a good reason why. Have you?

For the second year in a row, more American soldiers—both enlisted men and women and veterans—committed suicide than were killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Excluding accidents and illness, 462 soldiers died in combat, while 468 committed suicide. A difference of six isn't vast by any means, but the symbolism is significant and troubling. In 2009, there were 381 suicides by military personnel, a number that also exceeded the number of combat deaths.

The U.S. has said the American, who has not been named, acted in self-defense when he shot two armed men who approached his car in Lahore on Thursday.

But many questions have been left unanswered, including exactly what the American did at the U.S. Embassy and why he was carrying a gun. The lack of clarity has fueled media speculation he may have been a CIA agent or security contractor, as well as questions over whether he qualified for diplomatic immunity.

It's interesting that many of the same questions arise as they would in the States. Who was he, why did he have a gun, and most of all why did he shoot.

In this op-ed supporting the continuance of the State background checks we can see that it makes good sense. We can also see the lies put out by the gun extremists who have been saying it's an unnecessary duplication of the Federal check.

Last year, the Bloomington Police Department received 541 requests for permission to buy handguns.

Of that total, 37 were denied following local background checks required by Minnesota law. According to officials, those rejections were due to chemical dependency or mental illness issues.

Had Bloomington authorities relied solely on instant federal background checks, every one of those 37 permit-seekers would have been cleared on the spot to buy a gun.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

What's your opinion. I thought the video shows extremely graphically what gun control folks have been saying all along, that being armed during one of these attacks is of little or no use. You'd have to be positioned just right in order to stop the attack. The most heroic cop there got shot in the head for his trouble.

Another thing is the shooter's hesitation at the end. It's as if he'd shot enough people and stood there waiting for the "suicide by cop" part. If he'd continued attacking, the innocent victims would have been more, further proving the first point.

Everyone is talking about what exactly President Obama will have to say about gun control when he eventually gets around to saying it. The NRA has compiled a list of the major predictions, which I'm sorry to see have mainly to do with that magazine capacity nonsense. Don't get me wrong, I agree with a common-sense limitation of magazine size, but it seems many of these gun control folks are putting all their eggs in that one basket. That, I don't get.

Senator Lautenberg got a mention. Of course the NRA denigrates the senator's efforts at legislating background checks as "nothing more than “solutions” in search of a problem." That's pretty funny. But the funniest is the NRA prediction / call-to-arms.

Which, if any, of these proposals and theories will get the president’s endorsement remains to be seen. But gun owners should be prepared: The second two years of President Obama’s term may be tougher than the first.

Is it any wonder that so many individual pro-gun guys talk like frustrated adolescents, boasting and bullying to cover up their insecurities? Look at how their "alma mater" uses veiled threats and intimidation.

An argument over an Xbox and an iPod escalated into a fatal shooting at a Manson residence early Friday morning, according to documents filed in Chelan County Superior Court.

Chelan County Sheriff Brian Burnett identified the dead man as Paul M. Raney, 22, of Chelan. Burnett said Raney was shot multiple times in the chest with a handgun. He said he does not know who owned the gun.